Gesundheit, Jacob Ben Isaac

Polish rabbi; born in Warsaw 1815; died there Sept. 11, 1878. He conducted a yeshibah for forty-two years, some of his many pupils becoming well-known rabbis. In 1870 he was chosen rabbi of Warsaw in succession to R. Bär ben Isaac Meisels, and held the office for about four years, when he was compelled to relinquish it on account of not being acceptable to the Ḥasidim. Jacob finished his "Sifte Kohen" at the age of eighteen. At twenty-three he wrote his "Tif'eret Ya'aḳob," on Shulḥan 'Aruk, Ḥoshen Mishpaṭ (Warsaw, 1842), but the larger part of the edition was destroyed by order of the censor (see Fürst, "Bibl. Jud." v. 3). His other published works also bear the same name, "Tif'eret Ya'aḳob," and comprise novellæ on Giṭṭin (ib. 1858) and Ḥullin (ib. 1867), which are very highly esteemed by Talmudical scholars of eastern Europe. He also left several works in manuscript.

Bibliography:

  * Ha-Meliẓ, v. 14, No. 15;
  * Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, pp. 542-543, Warsaw, 1886;
  * Yevnin, Naḥalat 'Alumim, pp. 70-71, ib. 1882.



K. P. Wi.